Each year, more than thousands of food artisans across the country submit their edible products to the Good Food Awards, hoping to win recognition and the right to use the foundation's blue seal on their packages. After seven Georgia-based companies were announced as finalists in November 2019, five were declared winners in their respective categories, winning in a total of six categories.
The winning products from Georgia included:
- Luis Ordoñez coffee from 1000 Faces Coffee in Athens (coffee category)
- Sourwood Comb Honey from MtnHoney in Clarksville (honey category)
- Sweetheart Ham from Pine Street Market in Avondale Estates (charcuterie category)
- Asher Blue cheese from Sweetgrass Dairy in Thomasville (cheese category)
- Thomasville Tomme from Sweetgrass Dairy in Thomasville (cheese category)
- Habanero Haze cider from UrbanTree Cidery in Atlanta (cider category)
The Good Food Awards are presented in 17 categories, each with three winners across four different U.S. regions. Within this structure, Sweetgrass Dairy’s two wins in the cheese category are particularly notable. Only one other Southern producer - the Cottage in Bluffton, South Carolina - had two winning items, and those were in separate categories.
The process for winning a Good Food Award requires interested businesses to submit their products to a completely blind taste test by experts in their given category. The expert scores are tallied, and the top five scores in each category are named finalists. The products and companies are then vetted by the foundation to ensure they meet high standards of ingredient sourcing, sustainability and responsibility. The finalists are then whittled down to three winners.
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